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Dalit literature warps long-established postcolonial discourse by focusing on indigenous, caste-based subjugation. This paper highlights how postcolonial authors like Bama employ intertextuality to encounter the colonial narratives to assert cultural identity, and voice resistance through their works. Dalit autobiographical literature has emerged as a powerful genre in postcolonial literature for contesting the supremacy narratives of caste, class and identity. As well explores how Bama’s Karukku unveils the existence of subjugated community in post-colonial India and tries to reveal the prevailing societal, political freedom which often exist without societal or cultural liberation for oppressed people (Dalits). The novel taken for the discussion, visualises caste as a form of neo-colonial power, amending ingress to learn, labour, holy spaces, and public flexibility, while replicating classified autonomy within fragile democratic structures.
Isaignan S, and Dr. S.Suganya. “Speaking from the Margins- Subaltern Voice and Oppression in Karukku.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 629–639. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.40.
Open Access · CC BY 4.0 · Crossref DOI ·
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